“When did they show up?” Dom stood over the images with a grim expression. “Did your cameras catch them?”
Parker whirled around to face me. “Cameras?”
“Yes,” I said while leaning back on the couch uncomfortably with my arms crossed over my chest. “I had security cameras installed on the perimeter of both of our houses as well as on all the entrances and exits, including the windows.” I told her about her house, of course, but I guess I hadn’t told her about adding them to my house.
“Isn’t that something important for me to know?” The anger in her voice surprised me, enough that I didn’t immediately answer her. She took that as a sign to keep going. “I’m serious. If there are cameras… Oh.” She stopped as the pieces finally clicked. “You had them installed after the fireball to make sure everything was okay. I get it now.” The immediate panic shifted away from the cameras and back to the photos she’d received. “Well? Answer Dom’s question. Did the cameras pick up anything?”
“Is she always like this?” Dom was taking notes of the images and snapping photos of them before he took them into evidence.
“Only where Nox is concerned. It’s completely understandable, though, so I wouldn’t call her on it.”
“I can hear you,” Parker pointed out sardonically. “Don’t you have a job to do?”
“I’m doing it,” Dom countered. “Should I remind you that you called me in the middle of the night for this? Technically, I’m off duty.”
Parker immediately deflated, and she slumped over on the edge of the couch. “I’m sorry. I just… I feel helpless and there’s nothing I can do. I just…”
“I get it,” Dom said quietly. “If something threatened my family, I’d go crazy and burn down every single thing in this town until I was able to fix it.”
Parker nodded, and so did I, because Dom really did understand. It was one of the reasons I hadn’t fought him getting Parker’s case. That, and I really didn’t want to have to confront my father.
“I called the chief.” Dom apparently read my mind. “Before I left my house. It’s protocol, Remy.” He held up his palms defensively when I tensed up. “I know you and your dad sometimes argue, but if any of his officers are put in danger, we have to notify him. Someone marked your face out with a red marker, man. That tells me that whatever’s happening, the person responsible feels that you and Nox are a threat to their plans.”
“It’s a stalker, isn’t it?” Parker chewed on her fingernail. “That’s what’s going on. After Boo died, I started to talk to Remy again, and bad things started to happen.”
I moved so that I could wrap my arm around Parker’s shoulders, and she curled into my side instinctively.
“Yeah.” I didn’t pull any punches. “It looks like you’ve got a stalker. I didn’t want to think that was the case, but it clearly is.”
What I didn’t tell Parker was that stalkers didn’t just appear out of nowhere. There was most likely a chance that her stalker had something to do with Boo being hit by a car. The idea that it was a coincidence, with everything else going on, just didn’t sit right with me. And the way Dom was eyeing her speculatively broadcasted his thoughts just as clearly.
“I’ve sent the camera feed directly to you,” I told Dom. “But it doesn’t look like I got a clear shot of them. Dressed in all black, with black gloves and a face covering, the envelope was slipped onto the chair without the person ever coming onto the porch.”
“The video feed from the neighbor,” Dom said while checking his notes. “Artie Sims. His cameras didn’t pick up anything from the night of the fire, either.”
He left a few minutes later with a promise to call in the morning with an update, and Parker sat on one side of the couch while I moved to the other.
“He’s a good cop,” I said quietly when she didn’t say a word. “He knows you’re safe here, but if you’re worried or afraid, you can always call him, Parker.”
“I’m not worried.” Apparently, I’d completely mistaken her silence for fear. One day, I’d figure her out.
“I want you and Nox to move in here,” I told her. “I can keep you safer than if you’re back at your house, on your own.”
“Clearly not,” she snapped. There was something more there, under the anger. She was afraid, and I couldn’t blame her. “If they could get to the porch, that means they could get inside.”
“Not likely, as long as you lock the door and engage the alarm, Parker.” I knew that she’d catch on to the logic in a minute. It was late, after all, and we were both exhausted. “Think about it. You can move your shit over here, take over my closet and everything. Plus,” I added mischievously. “We can sneak around after Nox goes to sleep.”
She eyed me suspiciously. “I want the closet.”
My closet, the one that could house a small family, was not up for grabs. At least, not entirely. “You can have half.” Negotiating wasn’t one of her strong suits because Parker immediately brightened up.
“Deal,” she said with a smile. “I didn’t even want it; I just wanted to see how much you wanted us to move in.”
“Minx.” I growled. “You’re gonna pay for that.”
“Get the coffee ready for tomorrow.” She got up with a flounce. “I’m going to go start clearing out your closet.”
I pulled a laughing Parker into my arms, and despite the fear we both had about what might be lurking outside in the dark, I kissed her with every bit of my heart.
“I love you, Parker Jane.”
“I know.”
She squealed as I playfully pinched her ass and then ran up the stairs. I didn’t even care that she would trash the closet, or that she’d most likely destroy the system I kept to make finding my work uniforms easy.
Instead, I got up and got the coffee maker ready like she had asked. I even got the coffee grinder out and turned that noisy bitch on so that Parker didn’t have to do it in the morning.
While I waited for it to finish, I thought about my life, and what having Parker did to it. There was no doubt in my mind that we’d find whoever was tormenting her. There were too many good cops who had her back not to. And we’d do everything we could to make sure that she wasn’t ever put in harm’s way while we searched.
“What in the fuck is this, Remy?” Parker’s voice from directly behind me held more than a hint of danger.
When I turned around to see what she was talking about, every fiber of my being froze in complete and utter terror.
My heart stopped, which should have been impossible, but it skipped a fucking beat in my chest right there. My face flamed, and my stomach dropped all at the same time.
The box. Parker had the second box. Panic replaced the terror, and I tried to figure out how to get the box away from her. I couldn’t think fast enough, though, and Parker already had a letter in her hand. The telltale number in the corner gave it away.
Number 1.
The first of a hundred and eighty-two letters I’d written, but never sent. My fingers itched with the need to grab it, to keep her from reading the words I’d written so long ago.